From our Pastor’s Desk

Dear Family:

The first half of today's gospel reading is probably the gospel reading most selected at funerals. I myself use it always; it makes sense. Jesus tells us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." The death of a loved one is a difficult time for us. To comfort us, Jesus tells us that He goes to prepare a place for us in his Father's House. Is this not exactly what we want to hear, what we need to hear when a loved one dies? Jesus has a place ready for them in Heaven.

I think most people would be fine if the reading at funerals stopped there but it does not. If it stopped there, Heaven would seem guaranteed for everyone but Heaven is not a guarantee. Yes, Jesus died so that our sins can be forgiven. God wants every single person to be in Heaven but we have a choice to make. Jesus says, "No one comes to the Father except through me." Certainly, to come to the Father, we need the forgiveness Jesus brings. We also need to follow Jesus as "the way and the truth and the life." Jesus does not say He is one of the ways or that He is part of the truth. He says He is the way and the truth and the life.

Remember what Jesus said last week, "I am the gate." If we want to get into Heaven, Jesus is the way. He is the gate through which we must pass. We do not get to do things our own way and then expect to stroll into Heaven. Of course, Jesus stands ready to forgive us but we have to be repentant. That means we must desire to follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life.

We identify ourselves as Christian disciples but what does that mean? A disciple is a student learning from a teacher. Jesus is the teacher of God's truth. Do we make his Truth our own? Jesus tells us, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus is the way to eternal life with the Father. He and the Father are one. Do we allow "ourselves to be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifice?" Or do we think we are our own creator, that we can determine our own way?

We can determine our own way but there are consequences to our choice. If we choose Jesus as our way, making him the cornerstone upon which we build our lives, our place in Heaven awaits us. Choose otherwise and Satan has a place for us.

When we abandon the way, do not focus on the truth and pay less attention to the word of God which is life in itself, the result will be catastrophic as we see in the first reading of today. There was crisis in the community of believers. The Hellenistic Jews (Greek speaking Jews or Jews in Diaspora) complained bitterly about their widows who were disfavored in the distribution of foods. Note here that the scuffle was not about the word of God but about food. So their attention shifted from the primary mission. When we pay less attention to the word of God which is the way, many things will creep into our lives to destroy our faith. This very crisis opened the eyes of the apostles to see how they are moving away from the "way". Recall that the early Christians were known as "the way". This gave rise to the seven deacons whose function was to ensure equity in the distribution of food in order to allow the apostles to focus on the word of God and ministering to the spiritual needs of the people.

It is important to check on these three points that the gospel shares with us today: the way, the truth and the life:

The Way: Which way are we traveling? The world is full of many roads that lead to nowhere good. These roads are wide and enticing but deadly. Jesus warns us, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). In this Sunday we learn that when we abandon the way of Jesus and follow other ways, all we will meet is crisis. The road of materialism leads to selfishness and greed. The road of discrimination leads to prejudice, injustice and war.

The Truth: Are you on the side of truth? Do your actions reflect truth? Are you on the same mission with Jesus who says, "I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth" (John 18:37)? Jesus came to deliver us from ignorance and illusions. Things are not as they appear. Appearance is not the same as reality. It can be very deceptive. A lot of ideas, teachings and lifestyles in the world today are enticing but they are deadly. But truth is one and eternal. It does not change but it changes those who accept it.

The Life: Do we really live or merely exist? Does our existence reflect the beauty of meaningful living? Jesus is the life; the living bread (John 6:51); the living water (John 4:14). If we live like him we shall have life in us in abundance here, and hereafter.

Nonetheless, we can all say that it is not an easy way, that the truth is not always evident, and therefore life becomes complicated. Even the apostles had trouble understanding Jesus. In the second part of today's gospel reading Philip asked the Lord, Lord, "Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.'"

I can picture Jesus staring wide-eyed at His disciples and thinking they were completely clueless. Perhaps Jesus thought, 'don't they know that I'm the Son of the Heavenly Father? Don't they yet understand that to know me is to know the Heavenly Father? Have I been wasting my time here? And if those first disciples had trouble seeing the Heavenly Father in the person of his Son, Jesus, it is no surprise that our contemporary world is nearly blinded to the presence of the Father and His Son.

Why, we ask? Because, I believe, many of us 21st century Christians do not hear God's whispered words with each new day's dawn: "I need your heart, your mind, your mouth and your strength this day to love my world. Will you give them to me?" And hearing the divine summons, we could respond, "Yes, Lord, use me for good this day. May those whose lives I touch know you through me."

In our own day, Jesus still begs to be recognized as he walks among us in every sort of human depravity and need. And too often we find ourselves as blind as was Philip and the other disciples, blind to the God who walks among us, blind to the possibility we can make a difference in a world so full of suffering.

God whispered to each of us this morning at the breaking of dawn, "I need your heart, your mind, your mouth and your strength this day to love my world. Will you give them to me? Will you?"

We must remember that God call us always to be One Body, One Spirit, One Family!

Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Katharine Drexel, Saint Michael the Archangel, St. José Gregorio Hernández, Pope Saint Pius X, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Charbel, pray for us.

Yours in Christ!
Fr. Omar